Update: Delaygate....
Monday, February 28, 2005
I won't post the whole article but check it out below. This piece of shit, dirtbag gladly took money from a group who targeted seniors with direct mailings to convince them social security was going to go bankrupt and to send them money. Delay had them pay for 2 trips totaling $134,000 over the past few years. This is illegal in Texas and these are the reasons all the ethics violation charges have been leveled against Delay. This guy needs to be run out of town and thrown in jail. Will the main stream media pick up on it, probably not, they are just a bunch of wankers afraid to say anything negative these days.
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=134
Posted by mardenhill 2/28/2005 12:33:00 PM 0 comments
Tom Delay
NEW TOM DELAY MONDAY BOMBSHELL: GROUP THAT PAID FOR $134,000 IN DELAY TRIPS RAISED MONEY SCAMMING SENIORS ON SOCIAL SECURITY: NOON...
Stay tuned, I will post more dirt on the scumbag and his latest legal troubles....
Posted by mardenhill 2/28/2005 11:06:00 AM 3 comments
Installation of OS X
Friday, February 25, 2005
Well I am just sitting here at work waiting to leave and watching the installation of OS X on my mac at work. I decided it was time to wipe it clean and reload it, I tell ya, its easier than you would think. Put the disk in, restart and follow a few screens and, BAM!!, you're done.
Other than that, just working on the bathroom, well not me, Erika's dad is but I did help yesterday. Yes I was allowed to play with large power tools and didn't lose any limbs or mame anyone else. I did most of the grunt work the last few days, I had to tear up the original floor which was 2 inches of cement with the ceramic tile embedded into that. So with a sledgehammer and chisel, I took out half the floor. Once we got the toilet and sink out yesterday we were able to rip up the remaining parts in large chunks. At this time our house is covered in sawdust and dirt and we will be cleaning the rest of the weekend. The tile should be down by the time I get home and then tomorrow we can add the grout. I will post some pics once its done. So thats my weekend, cleaning up and learning about tiling.
Posted by mardenhill 2/25/2005 04:57:00 PM 1 comments
Update: iPod Mini Round 2
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Well Apple announced the new ipods, no color screen for the minis or bluetooth but price drops are there. The minis will have longer battery lives and the colors are more vibrant. The 20 gig ipod will stay at $299 probably until stock is gone and the ipod photos have dropped in price. There are no docks with the photos due to the price cut and the 40 has been taken out of circulation I believe. This is good tho, even without the color screen they have trumped both Creative and Dell who's players are only 5 gigs in size. In march there will be a connector coming out that can hook from your digital camera to the ipod photo to pull the pictures off.
iPod Mini
New 6GB Model. $249
4GB Model. $199
Up to 18hrs Battery Life
4 Colors
iPod Photo
30GB. $349
60GB. $449
Posted by mardenhill 2/23/2005 10:28:00 AM 0 comments
Our Favorite Pennsylvania Senator....
Rick Santorum held an event yesterday talking about Social Security, the deficit and minimum wage. During the deficit part, Rick referred to the war as one time costs, I guess the 80 billion here and 80 billion there for a total of about 300 billion just counts as a one time cost. Hmm must be all that "fuzzy math" at play. So you have one side of the room chanting Rick's gotta go and the other side chanting Social Security's gotta go, thats classic, just what the president wants, people telling the truth about his plan.
Courtesy of www.dailykos.com
Santorum's SS eventby kos Tue Feb 22nd, 2005 at 16:49:50 PST
Chris Bowers has a funny take on Santorum's social security event today. These two paragraphs are particularly hilarious:
[B]efore the event, Philly DFA began chanting "Hey-hey, ho-ho, Rick Santorum has got to go!" Local college Republicans, who are just about the only Republicans in West Philly, responded with a chant that beautifully was captured live by CNN: "hey-hey, ho-ho, Social Security has got to go!" I love it when the other side does your campaigning for you!
Inside the hall, the biggest applause line of the event was generated early on when Santorum asked a rhetorical question about demographics and funding: "what happens in 2008?" Before he could answer his own question, someone shouted "Bush leaves office," and the room went wild.
Gotta love those College Republicans -- too young and stupid to use proper code words, letting their true intentions hang out in the open.
Posted by mardenhill 2/23/2005 09:55:00 AM 2 comments
Update: iPod Mini and others
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Here are the latest rumors, looks like they may be released tomorrow.
Courtesy of http://www.appleinsider.com
Apple Computer on Wednesday is expected to unveil a major overhaul to its iPod product offerings, according to a multitude of reports.
Following requests that dealers return their remaining stock of iPod photo players, sources say Apple will discontinue its 40GB iPod and iPod photo models, replacing them with a 30GB iPod photo for $349 and a 60GB iPod photo for $449. The iPod maker will reportedly keep its 20GB monochrome display player at $299 for the foreseeable future, or until supplies are exhausted.
Both the new 30GB and 60GB iPod photo models are expected to debut with Bluetooth wireless connectivity, sources added.As previously reported, Apple will also debut 4 new models of its iPod mini player, which will retail for $249 with a 6GB drive and color display. Sources said the company will continue to sell its current 4GB iPods, sans the 'Gold' model, for $199 until supplies run dry.
It remains unclear what will become of the Special Edition 20GB U2 iPod, which currently retails for $349 -- the same price point the company will target with its new 30GB iPod photo. Also unconfirmed is whether the new iPod photo players will continue to ship with a carrying case and docking station at their new price points, or if these accessories will now be sold separately.
Posted by mardenhill 2/22/2005 04:41:00 PM 1 comments
iPod Mini and other secrets
If you are in the market for an ipod, I would say wait about a month. The rumors around the net are that the mini will be getting a new hard drive, either a 5 gig or even a 6 gig drive and a color screen. Right now all the other players on the market are sporting 5 gig drives and it would be Apple to upstage them and give the public a 6 gig. Don't look for the prices to drop tho, they will still be at the $250 mark. Good news on the bigger players tho, the 40 gig standard player may be making an exit and the 40 gig iphoto will come down to the $399 price with the 60 gig coming down to $499. This leaves the 20 gig still at $299, not sure if they will turn that color or phase that out later this year. Other rumors are that new ipods will have built in bluetooth for wireless broadcasting thru car stereos.
Posted by mardenhill 2/22/2005 09:25:00 AM 2 comments
Quiet Is The New In....
This weekend a number of us went to see Kings of Convenience at the Magic Stick, the show was good except for all the hushing that went on all nite. It seems that the indie rock/emo kids are all about the quiet now. Erik and Erland sat quietly up on stage strumming away at all their catchy pillow talk songs while "Ann Arbor" buggers made tons of ruckus in the back. I fault the bar and the booking company, you have an open area bar, pool tables and a bowling alley below. A better venue would have been the Magic Bag, people could sit down and the bar is sectioned off. I think I will just stick to listening to their cds, no need to be harassed by 15 year old Bright Eyes worshipers telling me I'm too loud.
In other music news, courtesy of www.nme.com
NOEL GALLAGHER has confirmed that the new OASIS album is finally, definitely, finished.
Talking to NME.COM at last week’s ShockWaves NME Awards, the guitarist revealed how he was relieved now that the long-delayed record is finally ready.
Describing the past year as “difficult”, Gallagher said: “Not difficult in that everyone’s been feeling down about things, just frustrating that we thought we got to the finishing line, but when it came to it, it just wasn’t worthy of putting out.”
He added: “The longer that we took to do the album, the better it had to be because of the time from the last one. When it was two years, we asked was it good enough after two years of fucking about and now we have to ask if it’s good enough after three years.”
“It’s done now. We master it tomorrow and it’s out on May 26,” confirmed Gallagher, suggesting that a possible title for the record could be ‘The Ear Has No Memory’.
Posted by mardenhill 2/22/2005 08:50:00 AM 4 comments
Update: Gannongate Round 3
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Well it looks like our boy Gannon has been setup to take the fall for the White House. It all depends whether or not he spills his guts before he is killed. Gannon is threatening to sue the liberal bloggers for defamation of character, hmm i guess those pics out on the internet, out in the public domain for anyone to see is considered private. He dismisses has past and said he has found religion and to leave him alone. Maybe he should have thought of that while he was busy giving blow jobs to the White House staff. Gannon better stay alive for this to reach its full fruitation, Bush and co need to be brought down and taking Gannon out will make things harder. The MSM (Main Stream Media) is finally biting on this story, CNN had an interview with Gannon on Anderson Cooper and he screwed up big time. Anderson had him on the defensive from the 1st question and hit him pretty hard. Anderson pulled a few punches on it tho, throwing him so easier questions but its a start. I am hoping Monday brings some more information on this story, there are more and more accounts of people remembering him and also exposing the perferred treatment people get in receiving these day passes. Gannon is a liar and continues to become tripped up in his lies. One day its a media blackout then its an interview trying to play the victim. Just keep this story rolling, remember Monica Lewinski started out like this and grew into one of the biggest political scandals.
Posted by mardenhill 2/20/2005 06:42:00 PM 1 comments
You Know You're Right
Friday, February 18, 2005
I got the Nirvana box set over the weekend and let me tell ya, it rocks. I am currently listening to a solo acoustic version of You Know You're Right. The set doesn't just have all their studio songs, its full of demos, solo, acoustic, live etc. The dvd is supposed to be very cool, I havnt got a chance to watch it, but a friend at work has the set and told me about it. Its hard to believe its been 11 years since Kurt killed himself, its one of those days that you will always remember where you were. I remember I was in college in the dorms when Chris and Rick came into my room to tell me about it. They had the news on and it was plastered all over it. The month before when Kurt ODed in Europe they kept saying it was just a matter of time but I said no, Kurt won't kill himself.
I did get to see them on the InUtero tour when it came thru Kalamazoo at Wings Stadium, the Meat Puppets opened along with some other unknown band. The show was amazing, there wasn't a song they played that the crowd didn't know. My senior year in hs they came to town and were playing St Andys but I couldn't go. It was Homecoming weekend and I was in the marching band and had to play the halftime show. To make matters worse, it was my birthday that day, what a better way to spend it. So I missed that show but was able to catch them 2 years later.
So what are your best/worst memories of Nirvana, feel free to post comments.
Posted by mardenhill 2/18/2005 11:47:00 AM 3 comments
Update: Gannongate Round 2
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Ok, this sleazeball is documented to have been in the White House before his stint with the fake Talon News site. So this means the guy had "NO" credentials or journalist background but was planted by someone. Could that someone be McClellan, or possibly Rove? Pictures reveal what looks to be a "hard pass" not the daily pass that Gannon came in on during his Talon News bit. Deducting this down, the guy was cleared long beforehand and somehow passed the background check with all his sex websites and prostitution. Hmm, either he skipped that or we have lapsed on our background checking.
So the story continues to build out in the blogosphere and certain websites but no one is willing to touch it. Give it a couple more days, people will be tripping over themselves claiming that they broke the story and horray to the bloggers for doing some investigating journalism. God knows we cannot trust the main stream media to tell us anything but propaganda passed down from the White House.
So the saga goes on, building more and more steam on the net, just giving the White House more time to sanitize all records of this guy. Requests have been made to the White House but those bastards will not follow thru, they are hiding something and it will be exposed. This is #6 for those of you counting how many reporters have been exposed for being paid off by this administration. When will it end, does it take a gay sex scandal to finally expose the abuse of this administration? MSNBC had a poll on their website and it has overwhelmingly shown that people want to know more about this story. So go ahead and break it, what are you waiting for!!!!
Posted by mardenhill 2/17/2005 02:58:00 PM 2 comments
Mr. Santorum Please Step Up....
Hey folks, just wanted to point out some more hyprocrisy on the right, and today's target is none other than Mr. Rick Santorum, ultra rightwing conservative from Pennsylvania. Mr. Rick is currently stumping for tort reform, he wants to limit damages at $200,000 and to eliminate those ambulance chasers we have polluting out society. That's fine, he has his right but what you don't know is, Mr. Rick's wife just settled a lawsuit against her chiropractor for a total of $350,000 in damages stemming form a 96 incident that she said left her permanently damaged. She originally asked for $500,000 but it went down to $350,000. Now if her husband had his way, she would be only skating out of there with $200,000 max. Coincidence that this was settled before any legislation has been drawn up, I think not. So its ok for the republican sleazeballs to sue and get their fair share but for the rest of us, we must settle for what they deem reasonable. Can you say HYPROCRITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I understand and am well aware of frivilous lawsuits out there but don't go around the country telling me that in order to lower health care costs, we need to eliminte the ability to sue doctors. I got an idea, maybe the US govt should buy drugs from the Pharmacuticals not just the HMOs. I bet we could get a better rate as opposed to a number of smaller grps buying drugs. But nah, thats just crazy talk, we can't do that, its too close to socialism. So we are stuck with high medical costs because we have for profit outfits managing our healthcare who's only concern are their bottom lines and their stockholders.
Before I forget, Mr Rick has yet another skeleton in his closet. In Pennsylvania, elected officials need to live in their district so Mr Rick had gone out and purchased a house so he would be eligable to run. Well does Mr Rick live there, no he does not, he rents the house out and most likely pockets the money. What happened to following the rules, I guess it does not apply to this scoundrel. Mr Rick, your days are numbered, come 2006 you will be unemployed and will have to live off your wifes settlement.
Posted by mardenhill 2/17/2005 08:39:00 AM 4 comments
No Drudge?
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Ok, its been days since the Gannon story broke but no major media outlets are biting, whats wrong here? Could it be that the story is just a lie, nah its just too crazy to be fiction. If we go back in time, Matt Drudge was on every sex scandal known to man, btw this was the guy who broke the Monica Lewinski story but is afraid to touch this one. Drudge isn't one to back down from a scoop he posts stories whether they are true or not all the time but not this one. I think Drudge is missing out big time, is he hiding something, thats the only reason I can see that he isn't biting. Just think of the hits Drudge would have with a story of this magnitude. Instead he devotes most of the last 2 days to his pissing match with Chris Rock which no one cares about. Maybe there are pics of Drudge with mr Gannon that he is praying are not leaked, maybe Drudge found religion and decided to give up on the sex trade. Nah, he's a blogger and bloggers love torid sex tales, they love to post and tell the whole world. So we sit back and wait, wait for Drudge to come to his senses about this one, but if we are lucky, the majors will grab the story and scoop Drudge out of millions of hits. Drudge's repuataion on being the king of gossip will be over and the liberal blogs will have trumped him.
On another topic, hockey has been cancelled for the rest of the year, it pisses me off that they cannot look past dollar amounts and see the big picture. There are tons of people's who's lives depend on hockey, they are the concession stand workers, parking attendents, local businesses etc, they are the ones losing out here, not the players and owners. Hockey is already the redheaded stepchild of the sports world and this is just convincing more people to tune them out. I see a few markets losing teams in the next few years, that is a good thing but overall viewership will drop dramtically and I don't see a return like baseball has had. So long hockey, it has been nice knowing ya.
Posted by mardenhill 2/16/2005 10:35:00 PM 1 comments
Update: Gannongate
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Gannongate becomes more interesting by the hour, the latest revelations are that Scott McClellan and Gannon are more than friends and that is how Gannon gained access to the WH press pool. All the bloggers are running wild with this tantlizing info, but the scary part of it all is that Gannon may have been the person who outed Valerie Plume the undercover CIA agent a couple years ago. Novak will not give up his source but if this turns out to be Gannon, this connection is one step away from the president. If you want more juicy tales regarding McClellan and Gannon check out www.rawstory.com they have a story posted. McClellan denies knowing that Gannon is a fake name but the 2 are connected back in the day.
Bloggers have come under attack for jumping the gun and not real journalists, just people sitting around in their pajamas writing conspiracy theories. But when you look at who is breaking stories and fact finding, its the bloggers, Big Media needs to wake up to this and start reporting the news for real, not for ratings.
Posted by mardenhill 2/15/2005 09:58:00 AM 1 comments
Update: Gannongate
Gannongate becomes more interesting by the hour, the latest revelations are that Scott McClellan and Gannon are more than friends and that is how Gannon gained access to the WH press pool. All the bloggers are running wild with this tantlizing info, but the scary part of it all is that Gannon may have been the person who outed Valerie Plume the undercover CIA agent a couple years ago. Novak will not give up his source but if this turns out to be Gannon, this connection is one step away from the president. If you want more juicy tales regarding McClellan and Gannon check out www.rawstory.com they have a story posted. McClellan denies knowing that Gannon is a fake name but the 2 are connected back in the day.
Bloggers have come under attack for jumping the gun and not real journalists, just people sitting around in their pajamas writing conspiracy theories. But when you look at who is breaking stories and fact finding, its the bloggers, Big Media needs to wake up to this and start reporting the news for real, not for ratings.
Posted by mardenhill 2/15/2005 09:58:00 AM 1 comments
Mr. Alan Keyes, Father of the Year...
Monday, February 14, 2005
courtesy of www.politicalwire.com
Keyes Daughter Out of the Closet
Maya Marcel-Keyes, the 19-year-old daughter of conservative pundit Alan Keyes "will be making her first public appearance as a gay activist at a Valentine Day's rally in front of the Maryland State House" today, CBS News reports.
Last summer her father, as an Senate candidate from Illinois, called Vice President Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter "a sinner" and said homosexuality was "selfish hedonism."
Marcel-Keyes said "her parents have thrown her out of the house, stopped speaking to her and refuse to pay for college because she is gay."
Posted by mardenhill 2/14/2005 12:27:00 PM 2 comments
Starving Artists
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Erika and I went out last nite for dinner at Starving Artists, a new restaurant in downtown Ferndale. It is next door to Angel's Cafe and has a total of 9 tables. The food was great except that 2 of the entrees Erika wanted were out. They had been busy all nite and we didnt go until 8:30pm. I guess you can look at it that everything is fresh, rather than an Applebees or any other chain restaurant. They have a liquor license and their wine list was decent. Prices were between $15 and $22 per entree and portions were good. Starving Artists has art work for sale, some of it prints and others local artisans works. We bought a print for the kitchen, it was only $30, the frame itself must have cost close to that. There are a few new restaurants in Ferndale, there is a French and a small crepe house. If you are looking for a new place to check out, I highly recommend Starving Artists and if they are too busy go next door to Angel's Cafe.
BTW, bought the Nirvana boxset at Costo today, its a 3 disc 1 dvd set and very good. If anyone would like a copy let me know. You can't beat the price at Costco, it was $8 cheaper than Amazon.com which usually has the best deals. While we are on the topic of music, I just found New Order's latest cd, its very good, not as guitar based as Get Ready but not total synth pop.
Now that I have finally organized my mp3s, its time to start backing them up, glad that the imac has a dvd burner or I would be here for the next 2 years. You can fit 4.4 gigs of data on each dvd and it takes approximately 14 minutes to burn.
Posted by mardenhill 2/13/2005 04:16:00 PM 0 comments
What Is It With....
Saturday, February 12, 2005
What is it with doing New Order covers as your 1st single, you got Frente in 94 covering Bizarre Love Triangle then Orgy in 97 and Flunk a Norwegian band in 02 doing Blue Monday. That is one of my pet peeves, a band who releases a cover as their 1st single. You had some ska band who covered Come On Eileen, probably the worst 80s song ever recorded and where are they now? I can't even remember their name, thats how far they have faded from the music radar. T.A.T.U. a Russian girl duo released a Smiths cover as their single but the rest of the cd was crap. They figured that they could play off the whole lesbian angle while releasing a cover and that would get them press and radio play.
Covers as B-sides or just during live sets is fine, Travis probably has one of the most memorable covers, they did an acoustic version of Britney Spear's Baby Hit Me One More Time. This cover rocked, they played it on their 1st tour in the states, and it was so popular they added it to the Turn single. Another amazing cover is Siouxsie and the Banshees Dear Prudence, she took that song and made it her own, you would have never known it was a cover had it not been a huge Beatles hit. Nirvana has some great covers along with Pearl Jam and Oasis.
I found this site while doing my New Order reseach and found it pretty funny, check it out.
http://www.inthe80s.com/
Posted by mardenhill 2/12/2005 05:51:00 PM 0 comments
Service Charge will the Death of Me
I got Oasis tickets this morning, they were $25 lawn seats and in the end the total was $77 something for 2 tickets. $3 each for parking, $8.50 for service charge and another $3.90 for for convenience charge. Now I can handle the parking in the ticket but the other charges, come on I paid more in service fees than the price of another ticket before charges. I know its the way it is, I havnt bought tickets in months and I swear thing have gone up a few dollars since then. My only hope is that the mycompanyoffer.com site that I have access thru work will have discounted or free tickets for the show and then I can sell mine. Depending on how the show sells, the my company will pickup the extras and get rid of them. If you ever want to attend any of the bad pine knob shows that never sell out. I can get those tickets.
Well I am off to the recycling center, will blog more later...
Posted by mardenhill 2/12/2005 11:43:00 AM 3 comments
OASIS TIX
Friday, February 11, 2005
11 hrs and 30 minutes til Oasis tickets go on sale, they will be playing Meadowbrook on June 18th for those of u in the metro Detroit area. Oasis will have the lousy Australian band Jet opening for them, I guess I will get there late but its still Oasis and thats all that matters. This is only 1 of 5 US dates this year, so u better get yourself together and get some tickets.
Posted by mardenhill 2/11/2005 10:29:00 PM 1 comments
Gannongate
Well the buzz on the net surrounds a man named J.D. Guckert or Jeff Gannon if u are journalist. Well Mr Jeff was not a journalist but somehow earned White House credentials, access to the WH pool of reporters, confidential CIA that may have outed Plume an undercover agent. Its all over the net what this guy has done and his skeletons in the closet but the big news reporters are not biting. Could it be media bias, I think so. Below is a bit on this guy, the gay porn isn't as big of a deal as the no journalism credentials but yet got to interview the prez and other WH officials.
Courtesy of http://semidi.blogsome.com/
“Jeff Gannon” is a sexy stud who owns a few gay-porn URLs, was credentialed as a White House reporter despite having no journalistic background (other than attending a two-day, $50 seminar hosted by a friend of George W. Bush’s), and now he’s been connected to the destruction of a valuable CIA agent’s career. Where is the so-called liberal media?
This guy wrote for a fake news site, Talon News and was privy to sensitive info, he is now pissed off because he was outed by liberal bloggers. Sorry guy, u lie u pay. Our own John Conyers congressman of MI has called for an inquiry on the issue, hopefully this does not fizzle out and just fade away into the zeros and ones of the internet. This is big news folks, if Gannon outed Valerie Plume to Bob Novak, this guy is looking at some nice jailtime. I do not have proof on this yet but I am sure it will be out soon. Check out http://www.democraticunderground.com/ for more info on this.
For those of you keeping track of the possible Deep Throat candidates, you can now add Prez Gerald Ford and Supreme Court Justice Renquist to your list. Both are ailing and were around during the Nixon Era. We will not know who Deep Throat is until he dies, until then every old goverment official on their dying days will be candidates.
Posted by mardenhill 2/11/2005 10:10:00 PM 1 comments
More Texas Ethics Violations
Those fucking scumbags are at it again in Texas, why is it that everything that is wrong with this country ties back to Texas? No need to answer that I think we all know why. First it was a provision to protect "The Hammer" Tom Delay from stepping down from his post if/when he is indicted for ethics violations. That got a lot of heat and was finally reversed but a more broad blocking provision was not lifted. Now back in Texas, mind you this is where Delay is from and where the ethics violations originated they are trying to inact the same provision in the state legislature. The fallout from Delay's ethics violations are hitting close to home and all his cronies are running for cover and hoping the Texas dominated legislature will come to their rescue. They claim this is for local discrepencies but it will be used to protect those who along with Delay, illegally solicited campaign funds for their big Texas redistricting a few years back. This is bullshit and and everyone knows it but hey those from Texas seem to think they are above the law. If this is passed, I vote that we give Texas back to Mexico and just rid the US of all the scum from that state. I know there are some great people and democrats from Texas and maybe we can keep part of the state or relocate them to higher ground. I really hope this does not pass and that it makes national news so everyone in the country can see what is happening behind closed doors down in Texas.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ethics11feb11,1,7321903.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true
Posted by mardenhill 2/11/2005 04:38:00 PM 2 comments
Update: Virginia Underwear Fiasco
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Droopy-Pants Bill Dropped in Va. Senate
2 hours, 17 minutes ago
RICHMOND, Va. - Virginia lawmakers dropped their droopy-pants bill Thursday after the whole thing became just too embarrassing.
The bill, which would have slapped a $50 fine on people who wear their pants so low that their underwear is visible in "a lewd or indecent manner," passed the state House on Tuesday but was killed by a Senate committee two days later in a unanimous vote.
Hmm, i guess too much public scrutiny on this one caused the state legislature to drop the bill. Now if we can move onto the next southern civil rights crisis and squash it just like the droopy pants.
Alabama state senators propose ten commandments, pledge be mandatory
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – Some state senators want to make sure that every public school has the Ten Commandments displayed and that every school day begins with students and teachers reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
Bills that would put both requirements into law won approval in the state Senate Education Committee on Wednesday and now go to the Senate for consideration.
Byrne said most schools do begin the day with the pledge and a moment of silence, which is required by law, but some only have the moment of silence.
Byrne’s bill allows teachers and students to opt out of saying the pledge if they have objections or if they are citizens of another country. That is becoming more common as Alabama attracts more international industries, and those companies bring over executives and their families from the companies’ home countries.
I like this "teachers and students to opt out if they have objections", yeah like thats going to happen. The 1st teacher to do so, will find themselves unemployed under some trumped up charge. The students will be ridiculed by classmates and I wouldn't put it pass the teachers to turn a blind eye while they are harrassed. These students will find themselves in detention, suspension, you name it. Come on, if kids are getting tasered in Florida and arrested, whats stopping Alabama from doing the same. Another sign that the religious right has gone too far.
Posted by mardenhill 2/10/2005 07:49:00 PM 2 comments
Say NO to Underwear
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Get ready for Universal uniforms for everyone at all times around the country. We are becoming a brave new world with the Govt in every and I mean every aspect of our life. This is funny but yet scary because I can see this catching on and spreading like wildfire across the south. Hmm, didn't we go bomb a country to liberate its population from wearing burkas? I guess that doesn't really matter anymore because the human body is such a disguisting thing and should never be witnessed in public without appropriate skin covering. I'm suprised that we are even allowed to shower naked, I bet within the next 2 years we will have to wear permanant clothing 24/7.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4249831.stm
US politicians fed up with catching an eyeful of underwear want to fine those who won't hitch up their trousers. The Virginia state house has voted to outlaw the trend of wearing trousers so low that underwear hangs over the top. Delegates said the habit, popular across the US and in other Western countries, was "coarsening" society. But others hit back, urging legislators to remember their own "fashion follies" and saying the law would be used mostly against black people. The house adopted the "droopy drawers" bill by a margin of 60-34.
Underwear is called underwear for a reason
Virginia Delegate John Reid
If the state senate also approves, youngsters in Virginia showing too much of their boxer shorts or G-strings could be fined $50 (£26)
Posted by mardenhill 2/09/2005 03:50:00 PM 2 comments
How many jobs do u work!!!
I'm so glad, our out of touch, arrogant, liar of a president cares so much for the common folk.
Courtesy of www.drudgereport.com
BUSH: HOLDING THREE JOBS 'UNIQUELY AMERICAN'Tues Feb 8 2005 9:27:01 ET
Last Friday when promoting social security reform with 'regular' citizens in Omaha, Nebraska, President Bush walked into an awkward unscripted moment in which he stated that carrying three jobs at a time is 'uniquely American.' While talking with audience participants, the president met Mary Mornin, a woman in her late fifties who told the president she was a divorced mother of three, including a 'mentally challenged' son.
The President comforted Mornin on the security of social security stating that 'the promises made will be kept by the government.' But without prompting Mornin began to elaborate on her life circumstances.
Begin transcript:
MS. MORNIN: That's good, because I work three jobs and I feel like I contribute.
THE PRESIDENT: You work three jobs?
MS. MORNIN: Three jobs, yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that. (Applause.) Get any sleep? (Laughter.)
Developing...Filed By Matt Drudge...
Posted by mardenhill 2/09/2005 10:40:00 AM 1 comments
Update: Napster To Go Round 2
Ok, I was right the 1st time with the $9.95 a month and additional $14.95 for the "to go" service a month. Also I found out how they will keep u paying for your rented music. So we are back to the $298.80 a year for your music and if you don't keep paying the man, its gone in 30 days.
Courtesy of www.slyck.com
This is how “Napster to Go” works. For $14.95 a month, an individual can download an unlimited amount of music tracks. The music is then transferable to a choice of three portable music players; the iRiver, Creative Zen Micro or the Dell Pocket DJ. But here is the catch. In order to qualify for Napster to Go, you must already be a subscriber to Napster – an additional $9.95 a month.
Ok, so $24.90 a month is not so bad, at least one can download an unlimited amount of music to keep right? Not so fast…An interesting quirk regarding Napster to Go is that an individual must maintain their subscription with Napster. Every thirty days or less, the individual must plug their “compatible” player into their computer; allow it to link up with Napster’s server, which gives the DRM tracks an additional 30 days of life. Don’t maintain your Napster subscription? *Poof* - your 14.95 dollar downloads are gone with the wind.
Posted by mardenhill 2/09/2005 09:29:00 AM 2 comments
Republicans awash in porn...
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
I am not saying porn is bad, I am just pointing out how Republicans take money from the industry and then use it to try to convince people that is is bad. Everyone loves a little porn now and again....
"Moral values" hypocrites take porn moneyby kos Tue Feb 8th, 2005 at 09:01:23 PSTHypocrisy, GOP style:
While its previous owners considered adult entertainment "immoral," Adelphia Communications Corp., the country's fifth-largest cable television provider, last week became the first to offer hard-core adult films on pay-per-view to its subscribers [...]
Viewers can watch such sexually explicit movies in the Hilton and Marriott hotel chains on video services like LodgeNet or on "On Command," which is owned by Liberty Media, formerly a part of AT&T; at home via DirecTV, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp; or via virtually every cable company, including Cox, Time Warner and Comcast [...]
While the corporations generate millions in profits from providing adult content, their political contributions are often given to those elected, in no small part, because of their stance on "moral values."
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Comcast Cable has given millions in political donations since 1998. The national Republican Party committees are its biggest organizational recipient, with donations totaling $851,000. President Bush is its biggest individual recipient with $109,000 in donations.
Adelphia has given $166,000 to Republican committees, $17,000 to conservative Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., and $12,000 to Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., one of the most conservative members of the Senate.
Terry Neal writes:
In this world of irony, corporate leaders at companies as diverse as News Corp., Marriott International and Time Warner can profit by selling red state consumers the very material that red state culture is supposed to despise. Those elites then funnel the proceeds to the GOP, which in turn has used the money to successfully convince red state voters that the other political party is solely responsible for the decline of the civilization.
Sirota has more.
Posted by mardenhill 2/08/2005 02:34:00 PM 2 comments
Update: Oasis
Ticket Prices: US $25.50 - US $45.50
Tickets OnSale: Sat, 02/12/05 10:00 AM
Posted by mardenhill 2/08/2005 09:56:00 AM 1 comments
OASIS IN DETROIT!!!!!
Time to get your shoes all shined up and ready to throw and to be hammered with indistinguishable insults and banter, cuz Oasis is coming back to town. If you have never seen Oasis, you are missing one of the best UK bands in the last 20 years. As for their choice of opening bands, yeah we all make mistakes but its still Oasis and u can always get there late.
OASIS are to play two more UK shows, as well as announcing details of a North American tour.
The band, who are preparing to release the follow-up to Heathen Chemistry in May, have announced they will play two nights at the Newcastle Metro Radio Arena on July 12-13.
Tickets are priced at £32.50 and go on sale 9am on Saturday (February 12).
In addition to their new UK dates, Oasis will play a selection of live shows in North America with Jet.
These will be the group's first performances in America since summer of 2002.
The North American dates are:
Toronto-Molson Amphitheatre (June 17)
Detroit Meadow Brook Amphitheatre (18)
Chicago-UIC Pavilion (20)
NYC Madison Square Garden (22)
Philadelphia- Festival Pier @ Penns Landing (25)
Posted by mardenhill 2/08/2005 09:45:00 AM 2 comments
Detroit Timeline
Monday, February 07, 2005
http://www.freep.com/news/locway/detroitxx7e_20050207.htm
The Freep had an interesting article on the road to the superbowl with Detroit's progress and yet to be finished projects. There is also a .pdf of downtown as a map so those of you that are driving challenged downtown can hang this in your cube and memorize it. I admit, Detroit is not the easiest city to navigate, the whole spoke concept was cool about 200 years ago, but I am getting better and so should you. While we are on the Detroit kick, mark your calendars because Tigers tickets will go onsale in a month from now, see below. I have never gone to opening day and this year I am planning on it so if you are in, let me know.
2005 Individual Game tickets go on sale Saturday, March 5 at 10 a.m. ET.Please check back often for information, or register for The Roar to receive ticket information, breaking news, and All-Star Game information as soon as it's released
Posted by mardenhill 2/07/2005 09:24:00 AM 2 comments
Republican "Morality"
Saturday, February 05, 2005
More sleazeball tactics from this morally/ethically/fiscally bankrupt group of fucking pigs we call our government. What will it take to put these guys away, its going on 5 years now and Ken Lay has yet to see jail time and the asshole from Tyco got off because some skank on the jury was paid off. Bernie Ebbers from WorldCom is currently on trial, who wants to bet on the out come? It just goes to show that Bush and co are protecting these corporate scumbags and we will not see any convictions until Bush is out of office. Will DeLay be brought to trial, I doubt it, and he will stay in office with all his ethics violations conducting business as usual. Maybe one morning I will wake up and see in the headlines that "The Hammer" has been indicted and will be stripped of his whip status, hell I probably have a better chance at winning the Big Game than seeing that happen.
Courtesy of http://semidi.blogsome.com/
Republican “Morality”
GOP Watch | Semidi, 09:39 am | Comments (0)
It’s hardly surprising that the GOPsters have resorted to this unethical and hypocritical stacking of the deck:
House Republican leaders tightened their control over the ethics committee yesterday by ousting its independent-minded chairman, appointing a replacement who is close to them and adding two new members who donated to the legal defense fund of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.).
Republican officials have spent months taking steps to ensure DeLay’s political survival in case he is indicted by a Texas grand jury investigating political fundraising, and House leadership aides said they needed to have the ethics committee controlled by lawmakers they can trust.
And this is the party whose members claim to be morally superior to the rest of us
Posted by mardenhill 2/05/2005 10:05:00 AM 0 comments
Update: Napster To Go
Friday, February 04, 2005
Ok, I misspoke when I said that you had to pay the $15 plus the $10 for a total of $25 a month for the service, I think the $10 is no more if u upgrade to the "to go" service. So u are looking at $180 a year to rent your music with it living on your player and streaming thru your pc. The article below takes a look at this and compares it against the ipod and itunes which is pretty interesting. Yesterday I thought that $15 a month wouldn't be bad but $25 was, now I am thinking $15 is still bad since you do not own it. I don't know, if Apple comes out with a program, chances are it will be better than this one and it might sway me but we will see.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/04/napster_go_away/
Posted by mardenhill 2/04/2005 10:01:00 AM 2 comments
Napster's new service
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Here's the lowdown on the Napster To Go service that will be airing in commercials over the Super Bowl. For $14.95 you can download unlimited amounts of music to your mp3 player (mind you, every player on the market except the ipod) and listen as much as you want. The fine print tho, you need to be a Napster subscriber which is $9.95 a month for unlimted streaming, (no burning) so Napster functions as a 1,000,000 song jukebox. So for $25 a month u can stream and download to your player but you need to maintain this subscription or all your music disappears. Not sure how this works, say u load your player with stuff and then cancel and never sync your handheld up again, I guess its yours but it will stay on your handheld until u delete it. So this sounds pretty cool, but then you are talking $300 a year to lease music that u cannot share. Now with the numbers up front, does it sound like a good deal? I don't think so, its still .99c a song $9.99 a cd to download and burn just like itunes. Napster claims to offer cheaper cds but not sure if they are any that we would want.
Maybe this will kick itunes into doing something like this, without the initial monthly subscription fee. I could handle $15 a month for leasing music, that could be pretty cool but $25 is too much. Keep this in mind when you start hearing about the new Napster To Go.....
Posted by mardenhill 2/03/2005 04:30:00 PM 3 comments
SOTU tidbits....
I'm sick and tired of people complaining about the booing last nite like it was just a bunch of sore losers, please see below.
A history of booing
by kos
Thu Feb 3rd, 2005 at 10:01:34 PST
Courtest of the Stick*:
1999: Republicans Booed Clinton's Entrance
Many Republican lawmakers gave him a cool, though not impolite, reception. There were a smattering of boos when Clinton first entered the House chamber, but they were quickly drowned out by applause. Some Republicans barely applauded, or refused at all to clap. House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) and U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) were conspicuously silent. [Boston Herald, 1/20/99]
1998: Republicans Booed Clinton's Medicare Proposal
Clinton's health-care initiatives, chiefly in the form of a medical bill of rights, found support on both sides, especially his attack on managed-care health-care plans. ... Clinton's proposal to expand Medicare to allow Americans as young as 55 to buy into the system drew shouts of "no" and some boos from Republicans during his speech. [Chicago Tribune, 1/28/98]
1997: Republican's Booed Clinton's Opposition to the Balanced Budget Amendment
The Republican response was far warmer than perhaps any of Clinton's previous four State of the Union speeches. Time after time, Republicans jumped to their feet to join Democrats in applauding the president. Only once did they unmistakably and collectively show their disapproval--when Clinton spoke disparagingly of a GOP-sponsored constitutional amendment to balance the budget. Many Republicans hissed and some booed. [LA Times, 2/5/97]
1995: Republicans Booed Clinton and Walked Out During Speech
The upheaval wrought by the Republican election landslide was visible throughout the president's State of the Union address - from the moment Speaker Newt Gingrich took the gavel to the striking silence that often greeted Clinton from the GOP. At one point, Republicans even booed. About 20 of them left as Clinton went on and on for an hour and 20 minutes. [AP, 1/24/95]
(*) The "Stick" is the nickname given by the dKos community to the Senate Democratic Communications Center, a.k.a. the 'War Room'.
Posted by mardenhill 2/03/2005 01:12:00 PM 0 comments
SOTU another waste of an evening
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Well, our "favorite" president will be on TV tomorrow spewing forth more lies and propaganda and the sad thing is, the American public will eat it up. More half truths and religous fodder to mull over while Bush tries to convince us that Social Security will be bankrupt come 2018. Oh wait, the date was changed to 2020 just the other day when it was proved that Bush's numbers were more fuzzy math. Now if you actually look at a non biased report you will find out that Social Security is solvent for another 40 years and a few tweaks can extend that deadline. Bush has spent the Social Security surplus for his tax cuts with no intention on paying them back so all he has left to do without raising taxes is to privatize the program. Bush's idea is to take a percentage of your earnings and put them into a private acct and then cut your benefits when you reach retirement age. So if the stock market has a couple bad years, kinda like what has happened the last few years and u are set to retire, sorry your investment is not worth much and guess what, your benifits will be cut.
For more on the State of the Union and Bush's lies and failed policies check out the website below. They bring to light all lies of previous speeches.
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=310515
Posted by mardenhill 2/01/2005 10:28:00 PM 1 comments
DAMN PRETENTIOUS INDIE ROCKERS!!!!
Lets kill them all, I have decided that all pretentious indie rockers must die, they are the downfall of our civilization. This is from Pitchfork, our favorite source for news. I have posted the news a few days ago but its their spin on it that just pisses me off....
Ryan Adams Prepares Three Albums for ReleaseRob Mackey reports:If history has taught us anything, it's that Ryan Adams is a bit of a fool. But the Fork gives credit where credit is due, so we'll at least throw some adjective like ambitious or industrious before the word fool. The proof? In the latest development from the you've-got-to-be-kidding-me-Ryan department, everyone's (least? only?) favorite alt-country icon turned pastiche-happy-harlequin has announced plans to release three (three!) full-length albums in 2005, with one being a double album. Apparently his hand is feeling better...
Yes, Adams' official website-- which used to have a whole bunch of info, and is now a cryptic graveyard-- currently boasts a phony wedding invitation with all available info regarding each record-- the double album Cold Roses, and two solo efforts entitled Jacksonville and 29. However, as of yesterday, Cold Roses, set to street on April 19th, is the only album with a verified release date. In the boy-wonder's first non-solo outing since Whiskeytown, Cold Roses will be unveiled under the name Ryan Adams and the Cardinals. Who the Cardinals are, we're still not sure, but Willy Mason producer Thomas Schick was behind the boards while they played their instruments. Schick was also twiddlin' knobs when Adams recorded his second promised 2005 album, Jacksonville, which, as every rag will point out OVER and OVER and OVER AND OVER (starting right here), just so happens to be where Adams was born.
The third album, 29, will see the industrious singer-songwriter once again team up with bosom buddy/constant contributer/producer extrordianaire Ethan Johns. We'll keep you posted as tracklists become available. Then we'll save you the trouble and raze 'em down to the one EP worth of decent songs.
And, finally, as if three records wasn't enough news to digest, Adams also announced plans to tour North America and Europe in the spring, summer, and fall. Three albums, three seasons...one Ryan Adams.
Posted by mardenhill 2/01/2005 10:31:00 AM 2 comments
